Some form of marketing is essential to your business. My wife, and I have extensive marketing, and advertising backgrounds, but the roots will stay the same for your business. The pendulum has shifted back to a very open, community-based society. Most likely this shift in mentality will be around for the next 10 – 15 years. Knowing this – my wife and I are going to be as authentic as possible when it comes to our marketing, and our messaging.

Last week I briefly touched on what I call ‘Culture Marketing.’ It’s based on building a brand around your values, and beliefs. And everyone within your organization believing in you, and your company. From that internal belief you’ll see it expand to your customers, and potential customers.

Hanging out on some pumpkins

Your Cultural Message

My wife, and I are firm believers that you can still make a healthy profit, while supporting those in, and around your community (or your world – if that’s your thing). With many companies surrounding themselves in greed, and the folks at the top making more and more while the worker bees do not is not how the latest generation of business builders see as healthy or sustainable. That’s why you’re starting to see companies who give back to the world they’re in. Those that are very open, and authentic about their policies are thriving.

For your messaging – you should try and stay true to yourself, and your beliefs as after all your business is a reflection of you. My wife, and I are going to be very open about our products. We’ll let you know where they came from, and who the product is best for. We’re not here to make a quick buck and disappear. We want to build a fan base. It doesn’t have to be a HUGE fan base to begin with, but we want fans who believe in not only our products, but our values.

Up front we’re going to be very open about the price. The price, is the price, is the price is our mentality. One thing that ticked us off about shopping online is you never know what the final price is going to be until you ‘checkout.’ For us we want to be as transparent as possible. Since we’re only dealing with Canadians – we’re not going to have to worry about duties,and shipping fees above and beyond what’s already there. That was the biggest beef my wife had with dealing with US stores. You see this great price, then you have to factor in the exchange, the duties, other fees and the shipping (and shipping times…7 – 21 days C’MON!). We’re going to remove those fees and work that into our messaging. Again – the price is the price is the price.

Another one of the messages we’re going to work with is who our product is for. Sometimes it’s easier to say who you’re for, and against than just puking out a message. We’re for young professional women who want to showcase their personality at work without feeling, and looking like a skank. It’s affordable dresses that you can wear to work, and after work for drinks. It’s for the woman who wants to express herself through her fashion choices, and not be stuck wearing bland, ‘safe’ clothes.

On top of that – we’re going to include our fans in the discussion – whether it’s through social media or our internal database. Before we add any new product – we’ll encourage our fans to comment on whether or not they like it, how much they’d pay for it and what colours they like it in. Based off this – we’ll have a better idea what to buy, and where to price it. This way the fans will involved in the process and further get them entrenched in our brand.

That’s not all. With our plans to grow – we plan on bringing in our own ‘house’ line of dresses. Where we’ll source the cotton ourselves, design it ourselves, and  produce it ourselves. This way we’ll know exactly where it’s coming from, how much people are getting paid, and we’ll be able to ensure we’re using sustainable practices. At the present time – most clothing, and accessories are made overseas in who knows what kind of facility. Our goal is to move away from that, and support those in, and around our community. Pay them fairly, support their families and build better relationship with our peers. It may cut into our margins, but we’re fine with that. We feel it’s the right thing to do, so we’re going to do it.

Now, just wait till you see how we’re going to go about our business to reach our customers. As the times have changed – you don’t have to be on TV or the radio or in the newspaper to get press. You can do it yourself, and create your own media company to drive fans, and potential customers to you.

More on that next week.

Love you,

Jordan ‘The Guy with the Bow Tie’ Rycroft